Bovre Cheese
Learn how to make bovre cheese at home with this simple recipe that requires few ingredients and will replace your cream cheese, ricotta cheese, and will even become a staple to add to your charcuterie board!
Ingredients
- 1-2 gallons of raw or pasteurized milk
- 1/8 teaspoon of mesophilic culture
- 2-3 drops of calf rennet
Instructions
- Start out by diluting 2-3 drops of calf rennet (you can use vegetable rennet too, but I've only ever used calf rennet) in about 2 tablespoons of water.
- Heat your milk on medium low to anywhere between 80-90 °F . I try to stick to the middle of that range. If you have fresh milk from the morning (or evening milking), it will most likely already be at temperature.
- If you're doing a 1-2 gallon batch add about ⅛ teaspoon of your dry mesophilic culture. Let it sit for a few minutes and then stir it in with a whisk. Or, if you have whey leftover from this recipe, you can use ¼ to ½ cup of that and just stir it in!
- Next, add your diluted rennet and whisk it in.
- Cover with a shower cap or tea towel and let it sit for 12-15 hours.
- Your cheese should be jiggly and ready to strain!
- Take a non serated knife and enjoy cutting your curds into a grid, however small you'd like. It doesn't matter too much the size.
- Take a large bowl with a strainer inside and lay your flour sack over the strainer.
- Pour your curds into the flour sack laden strainer and pull all four sides of the flour sack up and together and wrap a rubber band around to close. Alternatively, you can tie up your cheese and leave it sitting in the strainer, as long as it stays above the level of the whey.
- Use your method of choice to hang while the whey drains into your bowl. I use my microwave handle over my stove. Use whatever works!
- Let strain for 6-12 hours. If you want a more spreadable cheese, strain for less time. If you want a dry cheese for sprinkling over salads and on top of pastas, strain for a longer time. You can easily check to see what consistency your cheese is at by opening it up! Use a spoon to mix it around if you'd like, as the edges tend to dry out faster than the center.
- When your cheese is at the desired consistency, transfer to a container and add your seasonings of choice! Bovre lends itself well to whatever seasonings you want to add. I usually just salt it for preservation, but have added lemon and garlic seasonings as well as italian if I know I'm going to use it for lasagne.
Notes
[convertkit_formtrigger form="6086447" text="Subscribe"]Do yourself a favor and skip the cheese cloth from the grocery store. See above for the flour sacks I use instead! They are way more effective.
I've only ever used raw milk and milk that I've pasteurized myself, but if you do try ultra pasteurized milk from the store, let me know in the comments!
I use calf rennet, but I've heard vegetable rennet works just as well.
You can use whole milk, but I like to skim my cream for making butter.